Chapter 34 The man who replies with emojis...

Chapter 34

Jiang Mingxu: [What time?]

Jin Ran: [7:30, are you working overtime today? Remember to tell Xiao Sun to come over.]

There was no reply for a while, and then a picture was sent.

The background features an office desk, with a large, bright floor-to-ceiling window dominating most of the view. A stark contrast is created between a sleek black leather sofa and a lush money tree.

Jin Ran realized that this was probably Jiang Mingxu's office at Mingji. The thought that domineering CEOs in novels would also display money trees in their offices made her want to laugh.

Well, judging from how thriving Jiang Mingxu's money tree is, his career must be booming.

The composition of the photo is relatively simple, so Jin Ran easily noticed the hand that was unintentionally in the lower right corner.

I couldn't help but glance at it again and again.

It's common knowledge that hands are a person's second face; otherwise, there wouldn't be so many people with a hand fetish. Jin Ran doesn't consider herself a hand fetishist, but the appreciation for beautiful things is a common trait among all humans.

Jiang Mingxu was tall, and his hands were wider than others. His skin was a yellowish wheat color, his palms were thin, and his ten fingers were long and strong, but not as slender as a model's. Instead, they were like bamboo poles with distinct joints.

His work and life experiences destined him to be someone who couldn't avoid manual labor. So that hand had written words, typed on a computer, carried heavy objects, wiped away dust, and done many repetitive tasks, resulting in a slightly raised callus on the side of his index finger.

He gripped the pen tightly, the veins on the back of his hand bulging, the pale blue veins crisscrossing and extending down his arm into his shirt, like roots emerging from a pine tree that has stood for years, determined to take deep root in the soil.

These are hands that exude sex appeal.

Jiang Mingxu: [The work will be finished soon, and there's a high chance I won't have to work overtime today.]

The notification sound brought her back to reality, and Jin Ran finally looked away from the photo, only to see the man's reply.

A smile played on her lips: "So, do you want to come over? There's a really good barbecue place nearby, perfect for a late-night snack!"

Ever since the three of them went out for a meal, Jin Ran has enjoyed going out with Jiang Mingxu.

Is there anything better in the world than having someone to chat with, provide emotional value, and even offer to pay for it?

Jiang Mingxu: [Yes, I'll leave the company around 7:20, I might be a little late.]

Jin Ran immediately flattered him: "How can you call it late, boss? It's because I waited willingly."

In real life, laughing heartily – the perfect dining buddy achieved!

In her excitement, she couldn't help but break free from her "Teacher Jin" work mode and send a very "Jin Ran" emoji.

[Xiao Ba is happy.jpg]

There's an unspoken rule in online chatting: besides expressing interest, emojis are often used to end a conversation.

After Jin Ran sent the message, she assumed the conversation was over. However, to her surprise, Jiang Mingxu immediately followed up with: "[So happy?]"

[Understood. I will finish my company business and arrive as soon as possible.]

"?"

At first, Jin Ran didn't understand what he meant, but after reading several messages over and over again, her gaze gradually became strange.

Because she discovered that Jiang Mingxu... seemed to be mistaking the emojis she sent for herself.

To test the validity of her guess, Jin Ran posted another image: 【小八饿饿.jpg】

As expected.

Jiang Mingxu: [If you're hungry, you can go eat first.]

Jiang Mingxu: [I'll pay when I arrive.]

Seeing the man's serious reply, Jin Ran couldn't help but burst out laughing.

A man who replies with emojis is kind of cute, isn't he?

/

The message to parents has been sent out, but one cannot simply wash one's hands of the matter.

Jin Ran said goodbye to her colleagues, resignedly gathered the things on her desk, and then carried them in her arms toward the teaching building.

To avoid the student rush at the start of the school term, she deliberately took a secluded path. The summer sunset stretched the shadows of the trees long, making time seem short. In the dappled light and shadow, Jin Ran unexpectedly bumped into a boy squatting under a tree.

The other person was wearing a blue and white school uniform for first-year high school students. He had short, stubble-covered hair and was squatting under a tree with his back to them. His shoulders were shaking. His overly tall body made him huddle up awkwardly, like a large dog being forcibly stuffed into a cardboard box.

Jin Ran frowned almost imperceptibly.

She was all too familiar with this scene; the fight between Jiang Xuli and his classmates was still vivid in her mind. Fifteen or sixteen-year-old boys are at the age of vigor and vitality, their bodies growing into adults, but their emotional management is far from mature. Of course, many adults also cannot control their emotions, being easily angered and prone to outbursts, becoming slaves to their emotions at the slightest displeasure.

In such situations, elementary school students might only push and shove each other a few times, but high school students often can't control their emotions, sometimes even leading to serious consequences. Jin Ran heard from her colleagues that last year, a student from the neighboring sports college had committed a criminal offense due to a moment of impulsiveness.

Thinking of this, Jin Ran sighed deeply.

If I hadn't seen it, that would have been fine, but since I did see it, as a teacher, I couldn't just ignore it.

She moved closer and said, "Hey, what's wrong? You can talk to the teacher if you have something to say."

The boy kept his head down, ignoring her questions, and mumbled a few incoherent words.

Is she so bullied that she's afraid to speak up?

Jin Ran wanted to sigh even more. She reached out and placed her hand on the boy's shoulder, patting it gently, and whispered comfortingly, "Don't worry, no matter what happens, your teacher will stand up for you..."

Before he could finish speaking, the boy who had been squatting in front of the tree had already turned around.

The scene I had imagined did not appear. The boy's handsome face glowed white in the sunset, and his eyes, as pure as a child's, revealed a hint of confusion.

Jin Ran paused when she saw his dry eyes.

She immediately understood why he was squatting there.

It was probably a student eating bread under the tree, leaving behind many small bread crumbs. The aroma attracted ants, and these little black creatures twisted a thin "rope" together and worked together to carry the bread crumbs into the ant hole.

The boy had just been watching ants.

"..."

Jin Ran was momentarily speechless.

The two faced each other, a subtle awkwardness filling the air. Of course, it was possible that only Jin Ran felt awkward, while the other person still wore that innocent and naive expression.

She felt she should say something, but in fact, she simply stood up straight and said in the teacher's usual tone, "Go home early after school, don't worry your parents."

Having said that, he turned and left as if nothing had happened.

I had only taken two steps when I felt a slight resistance from behind.

Jin Ran turned around, and the boy had quietly tugged at her sleeve. Seeing her turn around, he slowly raised a bright smile.

/

Jiang Xuli always keeps his word.

After agreeing to help Jin Ran supervise her evening self-study sessions, he didn't show any outward signs of it, but he kept it firmly in mind.

Ten minutes into evening self-study, Jin Ran still hadn't arrived. The students in Class 3 gradually became restless, soon putting down their textbooks. Some took out their phones to play games, while others talked to the students in front, behind, and to the sides. In an instant, the classroom turned into a noisy marketplace.

The class monitor and discipline committee member shouted for quiet several times, but to little effect. Several boys who were usually unruly even deliberately went against the class monitor, shouting louder the more they were told to be quiet.

Just then, a figure suddenly appeared in front of the students' desks.

The boy arrogantly raised his head, then was startled: "Brother Li!"

Jiang Xuli stared at him with a stern face: "Are you very free?"

The boy's throat moved, but he didn't dare to refute: "No, not free."

"If you're not free, sit down and don't disturb the other students' studies." He frowned.

The boy didn't dare to say anything. He obediently sat back down in his seat, watching Jiang Xuli's back and wondering to himself—wasn't he the one who usually led the way in skipping class? Why did he suddenly change his ways today?

Despite Jiang Xuli rarely getting angry and maintaining a cool and aloof demeanor in class, the students in Class 3 were inexplicably afraid of him. With Jiang Xuli taking charge, everyone quickly quieted down. Seeing this, the class monitor breathed a sigh of relief and then distributed the cards that Jin Ran had asked him to give them.

The novel learning method quickly replaced mobile phones and attracted the attention of the students in Class 3.

With the class monitor's halting explanation, everyone first found their pre-assigned partner, and then each team received a card.

The cards represent levels in the game, and the two partners need to use their strengths in different subjects to help each other and work together to solve the problems.

Essentially, it's just one student explaining a problem to another student.

But compared to knowledge directly fed to them, the game format is clearly more captivating. There's a fundamental difference between passive acceptance and active exploration; students would go to great lengths to complete games, even if it meant skipping meals and sleep. —Inspired by Jin Ran's years of playing games, where she used two 7-inch laptops.

The effect was obvious; by the time Jin Ran arrived, the students had already passed all three tests.

At the very front were Jiang Mingxu and Chen Xunliang's group, as well as Wang Shuya and another girl named Wang Yu. Jin Ran remembered that the other girl spoke fluent London accent.

She stood at the door, not wanting to disturb them.

But Jiang Xuli still noticed it.

He squeezed out of the crowd, wanting to say something, when he suddenly noticed a boy following behind Jin Ran. When the boy noticed him, he subconsciously shrank behind Jin Ran.

Jiang Xuli hadn't paid any attention at first, but seeing his expression, she became unhappy: "Why is he here?"

Jin Ran was taken aback: "You know him?"

"He is Wei Ya's younger brother, Wei Cen."

This reminder brought it to Jin Ran's mind. The female protagonist in the original book did indeed have a younger brother with autism, and her initial motivation for entering the entertainment industry was precisely to earn money for her brother's medical treatment.

The female lead never expected that being a powerless and insignificant actress in the entertainment industry would be so difficult. She would often encounter various unspoken rules, have her scenes stolen, be suppressed by her seniors, and be cheated out of money by her extra friends.

At times like these, an outstanding man always steps forward to help the female lead overcome her hardships and is attracted by her pure and resilient character, falling in love at first sight.

Later in the novel, the male protagonist's research team even develops a special drug that cures the symptoms of the female protagonist's younger brother's comorbidity and, through scientific intervention, enables him to reach the standard of independent living after adulthood.

It's hard not to say that the female lead's ultimate choice of the male lead was due to the fact that he didn't have a younger brother.

However, from Jin Ran's perspective, compared to the female lead's younger brother, Wei Cen is currently just her student.

Seeing Jiang Xuli glaring at her fiercely, Jin Ran pushed him away speechlessly: "Don't scare him. I think since no one is coming to pick him up, let him sit in class for a while."

After saying that, he led Wei Cen to the last seat in the classroom. Afraid that he would be bored, he gave him the extra cards: "These are some partner games I made. You can play them by yourself if you are bored."

His tone was as gentle as a drop of water.

Seeing this, Jiang Xuli became even more annoyed. He thought this woman was a bit stupid, daring to take on any responsibility.

But he forgot that he himself had once beaten up three people when he saw injustice on the street.

Fortunately, not long after, the aunt who was responsible for picking up and dropping off Wei Cen hurriedly came over.

It turned out that the aunt had accidentally lost her house key while grocery shopping, and the delay was caused by her having to go back to look for it. Before leaving, Wei Cen was still a little reluctant to part, but Jiang Xuli felt inexplicably irritated and warned in a low voice, "She still has to work, don't get in the way."

Wei Cen seemed to understand, glanced at him, then quickly lowered her head and obediently followed her aunt.

Jiang Xuli frowned, and when she turned around, she inadvertently glanced at the cards on the table.

He picked it up, intending to throw it away, but suddenly froze when he touched the words on the card.

At 7:30, Jin Ran announced the end of the first "partner" learning method session. Boarding students were to return to their dormitories to rest, while day students were to be taken by her to the east gate to be handed over to their parents.

Until the last student's figure disappeared into the night, only Jin Ran and Jiang Xuli remained standing facing each other at the school gate.

The streets quieted down at night, the wind rustled through the sycamore treetops, and the streetlights cast small halos of light at our feet.

Jin Ran suddenly turned to look at Jiang Xuli and said sincerely, "I heard from the class monitor that they only kept quiet because you stood up. Thank you for helping me maintain discipline today."

Jiang Xuli was stunned.

Aside from a few instances of intervening in injustices, he was always seen as rebellious and disobedient by others.

This was the first time someone had said "thank you" to him.

Realizing what had happened, she looked a little awkward and avoided eye contact, saying, "It's nothing, it was agreed upon back then."

She gave him lesson preparation materials from all the teachers, and he helped her watch over her evening self-study sessions—a fair exchange.

"Then I must thank you." Jin Ran smiled. "There is a difference between agreeing and taking it seriously. You helped me maintain the classroom and led them to study on their own. You are undoubtedly the hero of this event. Even I can't compare to you."

She spoke exaggeratedly, but her tone was full of sincerity. Jiang Xuli felt his ears burning and wished he could turn around and leave immediately. However, he did not manage to leave because Jin Ran pulled him into the convenience store across from the school.

The convenience store, which operates 24 hours a day, has a sign made of LED beads. When powered on, it displays a vibrant mix of red and green, turning the darkness of the night into a kaleidoscope of colors.

After the two went inside, Jin Ran waved her hand generously and said, "To thank our great contributor, I've decided to treat you to drinks. Take whatever you like!"

Jiang Xuli glanced at her: "Anything is fine?"

Jin Ran was about to agree when she noticed the boy staring at the Moutai on the shelf next to her, and quickly added, "Under twenty yuan!"

Jiang Xuli was speechless: "..."

"Well, I'm thinking of you. Your dad's taking us out for barbecue later." Jin Ran didn't admit to being stingy; she just felt that money should be spent wisely, and buying too much to drink would just be a waste.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xuli knew that the two had probably reached some agreement that he was unaware of.

He didn't pay any attention, nodded, and walked to the shelf behind the Moutai store under the woman's unblinking gaze, picking up a five-yuan bottle of apple-flavored sparkling water.

"Let's go."

He suppressed a laugh.